PRESS RELEASE
Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares today filed at the Supreme Court an Omnibus Motion To Order Meralcoto show cause why it should not be cited in Contempt and To Require Meralco to submit a Compliance Report on its implementation of the TRO.
According to Rep. Colmenares “this will require the immediate submission of a compliance report from the date of the resolution on the instant motion, from Respondent Meralco showing the total number of consumers who paid before the TRO was issued, how many paid as a result of the confusing billing format questioned, how much is the interest gathered from the payments of consumers before the TRO and how Meralco has complied with the TRO issued by this Honorable Court,”
“This will also require Meralco to show cause why it should not be cited in contempt for charging and collecting from consumers the P4.15 restrained by this Honorable Court in violation of the TRO. Meralco should not have tried to pull a fast one against consumers and now they should pay,” added the senior deputy minority leader.
Meanwhile former Bayan Muna representative and POWER convenor Teddy Casiño said Meralco’s action is contemptible not simply because it is a brazen violation of the Supreme Court’s TRO but because it caused injury to consumers who were deceived into paying more than what we should have.
“We want the SC to hold Meralco accountable for misleading and violating the rights of its consumers. The Court should send a clear message to other public utility companies that they should not trifle with the orders of the Court or with the rights of their customers,” ended Casiño.
